Make Mad The Guilty
by Lt. Barbie Carson
Summary: Past and present collide in this unusual case for Horatio and crew
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters herein are owned by CBS. I am in no way affiliated with CBS.  
  
CHAPTER 1  
  
"There's a hand sticking out of my porch!"  
  
Melancholic clouds filled the sky, ready to release their impending torrent. A hand of lightning reached across the sky as the Miami-Dade CSI's hurried to preserve a most horrific yet unusual find. The owners of an historic home, while tearing off the late 50's addition of a cement porch, found more than bricks and masonry. Amid the ruins was the skeletal remains of a hand, its' fingers extended out as if reaching for help through the past 50 years.  
  
The rest of the porch was being carefully and quickly removed as workers needed to keep it intact. The horrified homeowners, a couple in their early 30's, stood by the side of their home as the wife buried herself in her husband's arms. Thunder rumbled in the distance as a tall, handsomely- dressed titian male approached.  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Ferrocci?" he asked. The husband gave a nervous smile.  
  
"That's us! People told us 'you never know what you'll find in an older home!" Mr. Ferrocci nervously replied.  
  
The gentleman politely smiled and continued, "I'm Horatio Caine with the Miami-Dade police department and I'd like to ask you a few things." The couple nodded in unison, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible so they could start packing. They only had the home for a few months. It was a lovely 1860's Gothic Revival but the once stately home was submitted to years of neglect. Horatio wanted as much background information as possible but the Ferrocci's had little to provide. The home was sold in a tax sale, they had no clue about the former owners and, after today, they didn't want to know.  
  
Horatio reached in his jacket and handed them a card. "I'll keep in touch. Where will you be staying?"  
  
"Not here!" Mrs. Ferrocci quickly replied.  
  
"Probably my sister's…I'll give you her number." Mr. Ferrocci stated as he headed inside. Horatio turned towards the porch, noticing his protégé, Tim Speedle, examining pieces of concrete in his gloved hands.  
  
"These are the pieces that were broken off just as the 'discovery' was made. They're pretty much pulverized but I'll take them anyway." Speed rasped.  
  
Glancing towards the sky, Horatio commented, "We'd better hurry and get this to the lab…" Speedle arched his right eyebrow and gave his mentor a look of question. Tim's mentor gave a slight smile as he headed back to the Ferrocci's. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The characters herein are owned by CBS. I am in no way affiliated with CBS.  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
"Daddy,…this…you…" Calleigh Duquesne stammered as she tried to find the right words. Actually, the right words at this moment would be very un-ladylike for this Southern Belle. Called away from duty once again by the local "drink and stink" to retrieve her father that was smiling and soused. She quickly entered the bar, wanting to get back to work A.S.A.P. She knew Horatio had a lot of work with this latest case and it wasn't fair for her co-workers to pick-up the slack.  
  
Grinning, her father stumbled towards her.  
  
"Hey there Lamb…" he began but Calleigh quickly cut him off.  
  
"Don't 'Lambchop' me daddy!" she grabbed his arm and led him out the door to her car while he just smiled.  
  
"Are you mad, L…Lambchop…chop…" Calleigh rolled her eyes and shoved him into the back seat of her car.  
  
"Daddy…" she angrily began.  
  
"Yes, sweet pea…" he replied as he stumbled across the seat.  
  
"Please don't vomit in my car again."  
  
Thunder continued to roar as the first raindrops trickled, then poured down, plastering her hair to her face and soaking her clothes while her father lay nice and dry, already sleeping in the backseat. Drunk again. The usual drill for Calleigh. Her father refused all offers of help. The local bars knew to call her and prevent a deadly tragedy (and a lawsuit). This time her father arrived at the bar already drunk. Until her father wants the help, there's nothing that can be done. He did try once. He actually went about 60 days. Until he blamed himself for trusting his instincts on a case.  
  
And Calleigh would continue retrieving him so there was one less DUI on Miami's roads.  
  
Back at the CSI lab, Horatio, Speed and Delko were carefully lifting a section of concrete.  
  
"Ok…here we go…slowly…"Horatio remarked to his fellow CSI's, "…this is it…"  
  
They lifted a section, revealing a shattered skull, yet with a macabre smile still intact, seemingly gladsome to finally be discovered after all these years. Horatio and Speed carefully set the mask down on a table behind them.  
  
"I think we have the cause of death…" remarked Delko.  
  
"Not necessarily…" Horatio looked down at the remains of the skull, "…this could have happened while the Ferrocci's were removing the porch…or it could have been crushed by the concrete…"  
  
"Or some psycho bashed it in…" added Delko.  
  
"Or some psycho bashed it in." echoed Horatio. "That's up to Alexx to decide."  
  
Horatio turned to the table behind him and began to study the piece of concrete that previously surrounded the skull.  
  
"This person was placed face-up. You know what this means, don't you?" announced Horatio.  
  
"MmmmHmmm." Replied Speed while nodding his head. Delko was puzzled. Noticing his confusement, Horatio and Speed turned the hunk of concrete over. Amazed, Delko let out a breath of air.  
  
"Whoa…"  
  
Horatio continued, "By burying this person face up…"  
  
"…it made a perfect mask of the victim." Delko completed the statement.  
  
"And from this mask, we can reconstruct the face of the victim." Added Speed.  
  
The rest of the top layer of concrete was carefully removed with one exception – the unexposed hand.  
  
"You think we'll obtain any prints from that hand?" asked Delko to either of his coworkers.  
  
"Possibly from the surrounding concrete. It's certainly worth a try, isn't it?" replied Horatio. "By the way…what happened to Calleigh?" Speed and Delko didn't answer; it was well-known by now where she was. She normally would have been right along side, helping. This wasn't like her and Horatio knew it. She was another one married to her job, never taking so much as a sick day. However, ever since her father came to town she was taking more and more time away from her duties. Not that she wasn't doing her job; she continued to delve into her work as always. He knew what she was doing and why; he went through it too, trying to help someone and no matter what he did, that person couldn't be helped.  
  
But he really could use the extra help in the lab right now…  
  
Calleigh's hair hadn't quite dried as she hurried into the Miami-Dade complex.  
  
"Everything OK?" a sympathetic John Hagen asked they boarded the elevator together. Calleigh got a glimpse of herself in the brass plate that surrounded the doors. She was quite a site; stringy hair, mascara flowing down her cheeks and wrinkled clothing. She looked up and smiled.  
  
"Everything's fine. I just got caught in the storm."  
  
John, smiling in return, reached out a tissue and gently wiped the black lines from her cheeks.  
  
Alexx just finished her exam and was about to give her report when Hagen and Calleigh walked into the lab. Eric politely smiles while Speed raised an eyebrow. Horatio though it best not to draw attention to Calleigh's state and asked Alexx to continue.  
  
"Our victim was a female, anywhere between 18 to 25. In addition to the blunt force to the head I found multiple knife wounds…" Alexx pointed to several photos hanging on the lab wall, each showing close-ups of the skeletal remains. "…when pieced together the skull had several knife gouges and three through the chest…"  
  
Alexx was briefly interrupted by the chirp of a cell phone. Horatio quickly whipped it open.  
  
"Horatio...mmhmm.."  
  
He nodded at John and Alexx.  
  
"Now we have a body that was murdered in the present." 


End file.
